Abstract :
Natural fiber composites are now widely used in the manufacturing
industry. Besides the materials that are easily obtained, natural fibers are able to
compete with synthetic fibers because they have the advantage of being corrosion
resistant, inexpensive, lightweight, strong, and easy manufacturing process. The
purpose of this study was to study the tensile strength and morphology of the
composite of pineapple leaves fiber reinforced composites.
The reinforcing materials used in making composites were pineapple
leaves fiber and the matrix used was epoxy. The composites used the Hand Lay
Up method with a random arrangement of fibers. The fiber was soaked in soaking
0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes with 15% alkaline (NaOH) concentration. The test
was carried out to investigate the tensile strength according to the tensile test
standard (ASTM D-638).
The results of the combined tensile testing of leaves fibers indicated that
the lowest strength was at 60 minutes immersion with 29.18 MPa and the highest
tensile strength was at 30 minutes immersion variation with 33.49 MPa. Based on
the results, SEM looks cracked, fiber pull out and void